1858: Confirmed BC Métis French in the Cariboo
A remembered secondhand recollection of the Cariboo gold rush, from a man who became a Settler, confirms the presence of BC Métis French by a different name.
Monthly Archive: June, 2022
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Lewis + Clark were real chiefs, Settlers are “but tilikum”
A fine little master class in the traditional distinction between táyí & tílixam…
1914: Hyiu Siwash Kopa Chahko Mika, a letter
True to form, post-frontier Settler Chinook Jargon that fits into the genre of CJ invitations and challenges.
1913: Alternate take (with joke)
Sometimes we get multiple reports of a single historical occurrence.
1864: Exploring for gold in Skwxwú7mesh country
Gold prospecting depended heavily on Indigenous permission, cooperation, and labour.
Métis place names around the Pacific NW
Many, many place names north of Louisiana, and from the Missouri River westward, are Métis whether you realize that they were originally French or not.
1897: UW cheer
The Seattle Times recently ran an article on the history of Denny Hall at the University of Washington.
1930: Willie McCluskey and the fair
William “Willie” McCluskey (1862-1939) was a Swinomish Reservation (La Conner, Washington) man who wrote a number of fine Chinook Jargon letters in the post-frontier era.
1899: “A busy morning” in Nanaimo
Typically unsympathetic Settler newspaper coverage of Native defendants in the colonial courts…
1914: “The last of the Indian ‘potlatch’ “
From one of the great Canadian magazines, an impressively well reported account of the colonialist prohibition on potlatching.